It is known that intracorporeal fragmentation of stones can under certain instances become problematic if the stones or stone fragments, instead of progressing out of the patient's body, begin to migrate further into the body or towards an organ. In these circumstances, further medical intervention to prevent aggravation of the patient's condition may become necessary. Therefore, it may be desirable to be able to extract such fragments from the body lumen using a single instrument, preventing the need for successive instrumentation which can cause greater trauma to the patient's tissue.
Many stone extraction devices such as stents, retrieval assemblies, and coiled medical extractions devices can be used to entrap solid materials such as stone fragments, and drag them out from within the body lumen to remove them. Coiled medical extraction devices may also be used to prevent unwanted migration of stone fragments generated during a stone fragmentation procedure, and then safely and efficiently extract fragments from the patient's body.
It is also known that current methods of breaking up kidney stones may result in large amounts of small stone fragments scattered in the ureter or kidney. Standard baskets struggle to grasp these small stone fragments, and these large amounts of stone fragments mean longer procedures if they are to be removed independently. Any stone fragments left behind after the completion of the procedure can become nucleation points for new stone formation or may be painful to pass naturally.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,800,080 describes a device for immobilization and/or retrieval of solid materials from a body. The disclosed device includes a sheath and a basket. The disclosed basket is movable relative to the sheath from a retracted position in which the basket is withdrawn within the sheath and an expanded position in which the basket is extended beyond the distal end of the sheath and open. The disclosed basket has a first portion and a second portion with two or more legs extending from the first portion to the second portion. The disclosed basket further includes an intermediate portion between the first and second portions in which the legs are spirally arranged, substantially parallel, and non-intersecting. The intermediate portion of the basket is displaced radially outward relative to the first and second portions when the basket is in the expanded position. The disclosed basket in the expanded position may be used to immobilize and/or capture solid materials within a body.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,979,870 discloses a device and related method of use for the capture and removal of various unwanted objects present within the body's anatomical lumens. The disclosed device includes an external elongate member; an internal elongate member disposed within the external elongate member; and a retrieval assembly connected to the internal elongate member and retractable within and extendable from a lumen of the external elongate member, wherein the retrieval assembly includes an end configured to be selectively open or substantially closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,926,680 discloses devices, methods and systems that facilitate and enable vessel wall treatment, particularly at the neck of an aneurysm. More particularly, it discloses a tethered cage-like structure that functions in conjunction with supplemental therapies such as a vaso-occlusive coil delivering microcatheter system and/or pharmaceutical delivery, among other things, by stabilizing vessel walls and providing tethered cage-like therapeutic support for treating aneurysms, temporarily or on an implantable basis.
U.S. patent application publication No. US2012/0/053,596A1 discloses an apparatus having a longitudinal shaft having a guide feature and at least one ensnarement feature. The disclosed guide feature is disposed adjacent to a distal end of the longitudinal shaft, and the disclosed at least one ensnarement feature is disposed at least partially proximally relative to the guide feature.
U.S. patent application publication No. US2005/0,070,953A1 discloses a device and related methods of use for the capture and removal of various unwanted objects present within the body's anatomical lumens. The disclosed device includes a sheath; an actuation handle; an end-effector loop connected to the actuation handle and retractable within and extendable from a lumen of the sheath; and a connecting member disposed within the sheath for deflecting the end-effector loop relative to the longitudinal axis of the device, wherein the end-effector loop includes an outer periphery that defines a space that may include a webbing.